One Sentence Broke the Entire Story Open
Security footage came up on the screen.
It showed Douglas entering his office shortly before the attempted deletion of old records.
Then system logs tied the activity to Paige’s workstation.
Paige turned on him.
“You used my computer?”
Douglas stayed expressionless.
“Perhaps you forgot to log out.”
“I never leave my workstation unlocked.”
The room tensed.
Grant brought Nora in.
She confirmed Rachel’s letter had been logged and later turned up opened on Douglas’s desk.
Finally, Grant set another document in front of Curtis.
An internal memo requesting Rachel’s termination.
The date was the key detail.
It had been written before the inventory shortage she was later blamed for.
Curtis stared at the paper.
Douglas shot him a warning look.
“Think carefully before you say anything.”
Something in Curtis finally gave.
He pushed his chair back.
“You told me nobody would ever find out!”
Nobody moved.
Grant asked quietly, “Find out about what?”
Curtis covered his face for a few seconds.
Then he admitted it.
Cheap goods were deliberately ordered while premium prices were submitted to corporate accounting. Certain managers got kickbacks for approving the arrangement.
“Douglas told me it was an efficiency arrangement,” Curtis said. “I knew it was wrong eventually, but by then I was already in it.”
Paige started crying.
“He told me to split the payments. Said corporate would never notice.”
Douglas stood.
“They’re covering themselves by pinning this on me.”
But the records said otherwise.
